Advice and information to help you start a career in the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry!

I’ve been meaning to post a link to “Chain the Wolf“, a great blog about Medical Writing, for a while now. I’ve emailed back and forth with the author a few times over the past few years, and I was thrilled when she started putting some of her thoughts about her career path in medical writing and medical education to screen.

In her own words,

I’m currently a full-time freelance medical writer and consultant (2.5 years and counting). Most of my clients are medical communication companies and the projects are usually in the area of oncology, although I also dabble in neuroscience from time to time.

But how did I get here and why do I have this blog? I really struggled at a few points before getting to where I am now. (. . .)

I eventually thought about medical writing, so once again I had to seek out information. How does one get a job in that industry? Would it or would it not be a good career for me? I did everything from post angst filled questions on a forum board (Hi Ask Metafilter!), conducted many informational interviews, and after taking a few more steps, I was hired at a medical communication company.I still wasn’t quite happy as my real goal was to eventually become a freelance medical writer. For some reason, making the leap from fulltime employee at a company to an independent freelancer was difficult. Sometimes it was facing a fear. I also had to learn new skills and few people have training in how to run a business, even if it is simple. I was able to successfully make the jump but again, I do wish there had been useful resources for me. I still look for “how to run a business” type resources, and there isn’t really high quality information out there.

So I am creating this blog as a resource for people who like me, had questions; in a way, I am trying to pay it forward and put up this information for other people like the old me.

‘Chain the Wolf” (a phrase which refers to managing your fear) is fairly new, but has already featured many useful posts on getting started in medical communications, freelancing, and alternate career paths for PhDs. It’s a great resource and I am very happy to recommend it.